U.S. plays pivotal role in cross-strait peace: President Ma
ROC Central News Agency
2013/02/26 23:05:05
Taipei, Feb. 26 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou said Tuesday the United States plays a pivotal role in the development of peaceful relations across the Taiwan Strait, noting in particular the stabilizing effect of Washington's "six assurances."
Ma told members of the Project 2049 Institute, a Washington-based research group on Asia-Pacific security issues, that the military and security cooperation between Taipei and Washington has been smooth over the years.
Ma said the United States' more than US$18 billion arms sales to Taiwan during his term as president was the highest amount of arms sold to Taiwan in 20 years.
He also noted that Washington's "six assurances" to Taiwan helped stabilize cross-strait relations over the years.
Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan issued the "six assurances" on July 14, 1982, to reaffirm U.S. policy toward Taiwan and stipulate that the U.S. would not pressure Taiwan to negotiate with China.
However, Ma stressed that Taiwan's first line of defense was not military deployment, but cross-strait reconciliation.
On that point, he noted that direct cross-strait flights will increase to 616 flights a week in March, up from no regular flights when he first took office in 2008.
(By Kelven Huang and Ann Chen)
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